{"conversationCode":"001-059","tapeNumber":1,"conversationNumber":59,"identifier":"37-wht-conversation-001-059","startDateTime":"1971-04-09T16:01:00.000Z","endDateTime":"1971-04-09T16:02:00.000Z","startDate":"9-Apr-1971","startTime":"11:01 AM","endDate":"9-Apr-1971","endTime":"11:02 AM","dateCertainty":"certain","timeCertainty":"certain","participants":"Nixon, Richard M. (President); Ziegler, Ronald L.;","description":"On April 9, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon and Ronald L. Ziegler talked on the telephone from 11:01 am to 11:02 am. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 001-059 of the White House Tapes.","locationCode":"WHT","recordingDevice":"White House Telephone","latitudeEstimated":38.89767,"longitudeEstimated":-77.03655,"chronCode":1,"chronRelease":"First Chronological Release","chronReleaseDate":"5-Oct-1999","aogpRelease":null,"aogpSegment":null,"lastModified":"2015-07-27T17:04:10.235Z","findingAid":"Conversation No. 1-59\n\nDate: April 9, 1971\nTime: 11:01 am - 11:02 am\nLocation: White House Telephone\n\nThe President talked with Ronald L. Ziegler.\n\n[See Conversation No. 476-11B]\n\n     Future press briefing\n          -Washington Post story\n                -Paul W. McCracken\n                -President's position","filename":["001-059.mp3"],"tapeStart":"02:07:05","tapeEnd":"02:07:46","participantsList":["Nixon, Richard M. (President)","Ziegler, Ronald L."],"prevCode":"001-058","nextCode":"001-060","transcript":[{"start":0.19,"end":0.39,"text":"Yeah."},{"start":0.61,"end":0.93,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":1.21,"end":4.32,"text":"One thing, if you can volunteer, plant at the press conference, is this."},{"start":4.36,"end":8.62,"text":"There was a story in the Washington Post that McCracken was thinking of going back or something."},{"start":10.72,"end":14.92,"text":"I, of course, I suppose it's on your calendar, I don't know, that I met with him this morning."},{"start":14.98,"end":15.18,"text":"Right."},{"start":16.1,"end":24.39,"text":"You could say that the speculation about the chairman of the council was completely erroneous."},{"start":24.47,"end":25.79,"text":"Totally without foundation."},{"start":26.23,"end":28.57,"text":"That the way that Chairman McCracken has"},{"start":31.09,"end":33.56,"text":"and his policies have the complete confidence of the president."},{"start":34.15,"end":35.49,"text":"Just lay it that way, okay?"},{"start":35.63,"end":35.97,"text":"Yes, sir."},{"start":36.31,"end":36.66,"text":"Good luck."},{"start":36.73,"end":36.88,"text":"Right."}],"aiSummary":{"text":"President Nixon instructed Press Secretary Ronald Ziegler to preemptively address a speculative Washington Post report suggesting that Paul McCracken, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, was planning to resign. Nixon directed Ziegler to dismiss the story as entirely unfounded during the upcoming press briefing. By affirming the President's full confidence in McCracken’s leadership and policies, Nixon aimed to stabilize the administration's economic messaging.","topics":["Paul McCracken","Press relations","Washington Post","Economic policy","Staffing rumors"],"generatedAt":"2026-04-05T20:56:57.644Z"},"topicSlugs":["paul-mccracken","press-relations","washington-post","economic-policy","staffing-rumors"],"audioDurationSec":38,"audioFiles":[{"file":"001-059.mp3","bytes":903417,"durationSec":37.56,"bitrate":192410,"missing":false}],"audioIsShared":false,"audioProbedAt":"2026-09-18T02:19:20.569Z","audio":["https://nixon.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/audio/001-059.mp3"],"url":"https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/001-059","nixonLibraryUrl":"https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/1/conversation-001-059","license":"Public domain (U.S. Government work). AI-generated fields (transcript, aiSummary) are provided as-is without warranty."}